Facebook is still the most popular social network in the country and brands have been leveraging the medium to connect and engage with their consumers. For the promotions of its new range of laptops for India, Toshiba Laptops launched the ‘Awesome Inside Out’ campaign with a major focus on Facebook. Beginning December the Facebook page of Toshiba Laptops India not only put up a new cover photo but also started posting wall updates inviting fans to complete stories.

Curious Case of Missing Files

As an extension to the ‘Awesome inside out’ campaign, the brand has just launched the ‘Curious Case of Missing Files’ contest on Facebook where fans have to watch a video which shows half a story. They have to then use their imagination and narrate the remaining part of the story in the comments section below the wall post. The best story climax will win a Toshiba laptop. The contest seems to have been well received going by the engagement numbers on it.

A girl is enjoying music on her Toshiba Laptop, while she is seated on the steps of a college campus. She is approached by a guy who sits beside her on the steps and strikes up a conversation beginning with Toshiba is awesome. He also boasts of being a great dancer who dances to music on his Toshiba and claims that he has the ‘moves’. The film ends on this with the girl giving him a look. It is upto fans to interpret what she has on her mind.

The Facebook page began with bracing up fans for the contest with short teaser updates a few days in advance. These were shared as leaked files from the video. Earlier wall updates invited fans to become story tellers and imagine the end to popular movies like The Lunchbox and Gravity.

Storytelling on Facebook

Everyone likes a good story. But, we like it better if we have to write these stories. The good thing about the ‘Curious Case of Missing Files’ contest is that it makes storytellers out of fans. But, the problem with such contests is that all entries are in the public domain, causing most entries to have similar plots. I wonder how Toshiba will decide the winner! However, the concept of storytelling on social media isn’t new; telecom brand Tata Docomo had done this earlier where fans had to give creative endings to a video story and stand a chance to win smartphones.

The Facebook contest could have been hosted on an app to avoid this. Still, having teaser updates and posts emphasizing on ‘awesome inside out’ does help in appealing to the fans. The campaign could do much better for the promotions of the new range of laptops, as it lacks information about the laptops.